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BENJAMIN F. COSTON, OF WASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

GENERATING AND BURNING (al-AS` FOR LIGHT-HOUSES.

Specification of Letters Patent No. 3,894, dated January 31, 1845.

and in applying the gasin light-houses; and? I hereby declare that the'following is a full,

clear, and exact description thereof, refer-V ence being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- No. l is a vertical section through the appa-- ratus for generating and condensing the No. 2, is a section through the mercurial pivot joint that connects the gas pipe with the revolving or other burners. No. 3 is a section of the gas burner. tion of a light house lantern showing the arrangement for the gas apparatus.

In drawing No. l is represented a portable cast iron furnace of an oblong form similar to a common box stove and lettered A the inside of this furnaceis lined with fire brick; on the top of this furnace there is a circular opening surrounded by a. flanch that projects upward and in one side of which is an opening (c) for the smoke pipe; on this flanch above named a kettle B is situated which contains the material from which the gas is to be made which is melted by the` heat from the flue below. Below the kettle B, a cylindrical retort I issituated that ex tends through the furnace horizontally from one end to the other and below it the tire chamber E is situated having a grate m, doors and ash pit of ordinary construction requiring no particular description. D represents the iue leading from the fire chamw ber around the retort to the exit pipe C, one end of the retort is closed in the usual way the other has a semi-circular head Y that extends half way up from the lower side and prevents the coke or other substance with which the retort is charged from falling into the condenser O, with which it com municates by a pipe J that inclines downward a little from the retort to the base of the condenser as shown in the drawing under the tar contained therein as shown by the dotted line P. The condenser is composed of two annular chambers 0, o, one above the other which are connected by a series of small vertical pipes O the lower chamber is divided into two equal parts by two partitions one of which is shown at Q, in dotted lines the gas ascends by one half No. 4, is a sec-- the pipes which are .situated on the side of the partition next the retort into which the pipe .I above named enters and descends by the pipes on the other side to the opposite chamber in the bottom of the condenser from whence it passes through a pipe R into the gasometer of usual construction; the tar as it accumulates in the lower part of the condenser is conveyed into a cast iron cistern T on which the condenser rests through'I a Siphon S that projects from one side of the chamber and curves upward and then down into the cistern. The cistern is a plain short cylinder of common construction andvhas a stop cock U, in it near the bottom by which the tar is drawn from it.

In the top of the retort there is an open ing which has a pipe connected with it lettered H the upper end of which projects above the furnace and is closed with a head through which a small tube H leads, that descends nearly into the retort, and extends up into a small cylindrical vessel G situated over the pipe II which I denominate the feeder nearly to the top thereof another small tube Gr is connected with this feeder that extends from near the bottom thereof up through its cover and has a broad cup on its upper end, into which a stop cock lB from the kettle B leads; by this arrangement the melted resin or fat passes by the stop cock F through the feeder G and pipe H into the retortI when it is nearly all converted into gas by falling immediately upon the red hot coke or other substance with which the re tort is charged and thence passes through the exit pipe J, into the condenser as above named. The pipe J is `surrounded by a tion of a joint for connecting the pipe from the gasometer with that from which the burners branch in light houses. It is of the following construction; the upper end of a vertical pipe A which leads from the gasometer is closed with a pin of steel J, which serves as a socket for a pivot I to turn in it, also has a screw cut on its outside on to which a cup F screws, this cup is formed of two concentric cylinders C and G connected by the bottom in which a female screw is cutI that screws onto the pipe above named leaving a space all around between the pipe and cylinder C. The pivot I above named forms the bottom of an Vupright tube D that connects with the burners in the light house lantern, on its lower part near the end there is an inverted cup H which tits into the space between the cylinders C and G which form the lower cap the space between them being lilled withV mercury VthisV forms Va perfectly tight joint between the pipes together with the greatest freedom of motion, the ends of the two pipes within the chamber C thus formed are pierced with holes so as to give a free circulation of gas from one to the other. K in this ligure is the section of a whirl attached to the upper pipe D, by which said pipe is made to revolve in the ordinary manner of revolving light apparatus.

Drawing No. 3 is a section of the burner; it consists of two concentric pipes or tubes A and B, which are attached at their lower ends to the nozzle C of the pipe leading from the main. The upper end o-f the eXternal pipe is about one and a half inch shorter than the inner one and has aflanch D projecting from its top from which rises the frustum of a cone the base of which is of larger diameter than the tube B. The top of this frustum is on a level with that. of the inside tube A with which it is connected by a flat ring F which is perforated like a common argand gas burner thus leaving a larger space .or reservoir for the gas near the flame than it has while ascending through the space between the tubes bringing a body of the gas up near the flame so as to heat it by its contact with the metal which is near the flame, and having a long tube for the gas to pass through, as is clearly shown in the sectional drawing. A flat ring G which serves as ay glass holder is fitted on to the lianch D above named on which rests a frustum of a cone Hthat serves to deflect the air into the flame as in many burners now in F projecting from the said shaft is hollow for the purpose of Conveying the gas from the gaso-meter; the lower end of this shaft forms the upper half of the mercurial joint above described and represented in No. 2, and smaller at C in No. 4. The pipes F which form the arms above named.l convey the gas from the center shaft A to the burners j l. I claim the method of introducing the resin or fat into the retort by means of the feeder Gr and pipe H and tube H as above described directly onto the coke or other charge in the retort, whereby the disadvan-v tages arising from the collection of sediment in the ordinary siphon tube are obviated, and the resin or oil is introduced into the hottest part of the retert without any portion coming in contact with the sides.v

2. I claim the jacket around the pipe J that conveys the gas to the condenser in combination with the cistern of the gasometer in the manner and for the purpose described, thus keeping the pipe J, cool and preventing the tar from baking onto Said pip@- 8. I claim the combination of a condenser constructed and arranged as above made known with the reto-rt and gasometer forthe purposes herein specified to condense the gas that passes through it and having a cistern below to draw the tar into.

4. I claim constructing the gas burner in the manner described having a long double tube with a conical chamber above it as herein specified so as to heat the gas to a high temperature before burning.

5. Lastly, I claim the mercurial joint constructed and arranged substantially as set forth for passing gas from a stationary to a revolving pipe as herein before explained.

BEN F. COSTON.

Vitnesses:

J. J. GREENOUGH, T. C. DoNN, 

